A particular decade, its struggles, its troubles, and how the challenges were met can define a generation. From the Great Depression you hear stories about how small businesses cut pay just so they could keep everyone on as long as possible.

So now we are in the midst of the greatest recession since the Great Depression, and I can’t help but believe that there are a few true defining moments, and that the decision about whether or not to allow our only homeless shelter to expand is one of DeKalb’s. Hope Haven’s management is excellent, its plan sound. HH is not asking for any handouts from the city. The only question left is whether DeKalb takes care of its own in the clutch.

– Aldermen Gallagher, Baker and Kammes should be ashamed of themselves for voting against receiving and filing the Hope Haven emergency shelter expansion proposal. Instead of saying “no,” maybe they could talk about what it would take to overcome their misgivings. But, that would be too much work, I guess, and most of all too much like right.

— Did I miss a vote on the City of DeKalb’s appointment of a new financial advisor? Where did he come from, and why on earth is the Financial Advisory Committee being excluded from the debt restructuring discussion?